The Rei series were cloned, that much was common knowledge about them.
It wasn't common knowledge that there were prototypes running around who hadn't just had a skill set downloaded.
Ranma's was one of the soldier prototypes who had received actual combat training and experience. The series made somewhat effective soldiers because of their lack of a self-preservation instinct, but that same instinct tended to make them wounded often and heavily scarred after prolonged use.
Ranma's Rei unit was so heavily scarred, most people couldn't stand to look at her nude form. She even wore a large leather eye patch over her left eye to hide the disfiguring scar on that section of her face so she'd be somewhat presentable. To top it off, her extensive killing in war zones had left her with a personality that made even mercenaries consider her creepy.
In short, she was as close to a defective unit as a technically functional slave girl could be.
To make up for her shortcomings, they'd installed the fetishistic sexy maid template, complete with a cute but functional little maid outfit that coincidentally covered all of her scars.
Her owner had requested a soldier, and he was most definitely getting one. They were just giving her a package that would make her a little more presentable.
That she had more than a passing resemblance to Ryoumou from Ikki Tousen wasn't just a researcher indulging in a little cosplay fetish, but instead a 'happy coincidence'.
While the outfit was cute, and the eye patch matched, it was her personality similarities that worried the researchers. She liked pain, and she liked inflicting pain, at least as far as they understood. It wasn't like she actually showed any such joy, the assumptions were merely based on her actions. To top it off, she had no measurable morals about killing. Of course, there was a major difference in that Ryoumou never carried a gun. Rei on the other hand had a collection of liberated firearms, the closest thing she had to a hobby.
Of course, the researchers thought it was insane to give this particular prototype to a young Japanese boy, but the higher ups had ordered it. He had won a Rei unit, and they didn't want to waste a perfectly profitable 'perfect' production model on the boy. The Prototype had after all long since outlived her usefulness and had gathered too many quirks to keep around.
Unfortunately, the executives were still working under the assumption that Rei and her series of clones were programmable using the techniques developed for slaves. The researchers weren't exactly sharing the fact that the Rei series was heavily resistant to such programming. The prototype was as close to immune to it as one could get, being just barely able to acquire new skill sets in that manner.
That little fact had never come to light because the Rei series were naturally prone to following orders and few people actually thought to question if the mental imprinting process failed.
Ranma finally got to meet his Rei.
That she was wearing a small cute maid outfit was duly noted. "Hey, I asked for a soldier type. You look like one of those sextoy ones."
Rei nodded her head as he was technically correct on both accounts. "Correct Sir. I have seen thirteen different theaters of war over the course of 53 months. I was given the maid package to make me more use friendly. What are your orders Sir?"
Ranma of course, didn't like the idea that she'd actually been in modern combat. He had wanted the soldier package merely because she sounded like a fighter. "Uhm, okay. They gave me a room so I could get to know you for a few days here. Something about observation for research or something."
Rei nodded her head. "Understood Sir."
Ranma was beginning to think she was a bit odd at that point. "Ah, you don't need to be so formal. You can relax with me."
Rei blinked blankly at her owner.
Ranma found more than a few things strange about what he dubbed Rei's room.
The reason he dubbed it that was because her belongings were there.
Which mostly consisted of a large number of modern assault weapons, a fact that made Ranma a touch uncomfortable.
On the other hand, when asked to, she was rather polite about serving tea. She just wasn't very sociable or emotional, two traits that were also beginning to worry her owner.
When Rei joined him in the bath to wash his back and tend to his needs, Ranma got a glimpse at her body. Seeing the numerous scars she had, he began to understand why her otherwise revealing outfit covered most of her skin.
"Does my body displease you Master?"
Raising an eyebrow at the fact that she seemed to consider 'Master' informal and friendly, he considered her question. "Uhm, no, not really. I was just thinking about how much you had to get hurt to get all those scars."
He was also beginning to notice something about the girl, in that she had a small drive to please him. It wasn't much, but it was about all he had noticed. Luckily that gave him a few ideas about how to draw her out of her shell.
Of course, Ranma wasn't aware that Rei had no such shell, as he was pretty much already dealing with her true self. Further more, her faint need to please him was all the effect the fetish sextoy maid programming had had on her personality.
On the plus side, her complete lack of modesty or shame with him helped set him at ease despite the fact he had a naked slave-girl washing him. He was starting to pick up something subtle in her body language, something that confused him momentarily. He could tell she wasn't ashamed to be nude, but there was a slight reluctance to her. In the time it took for her to bathe him, then herself, he finally noticed that she was subtly angling her body to hide her scars from him. Otherwise she showed a complete lack of modesty, which made Ranma pretty sure he wasn't dealing with a normal girl.
Ranma found the tub to be a bit lacking. Her apartment was the small one room kind, and the tub in the bath was barely over a cubic meter in size. Ranma could sit in it and soak up to his chin, but his legs had to stay bent close to his body as if he were crouching against the wall of the tub.
That left Rei waiting patiently beside the tub unless he decided to squeeze her into his lap.
Normally he would have been embarrassed with a nude girl, but Rei wasn't anywhere close to normal.
He also was getting the feeling from her body language that physical contact was warming her up a bit.
Tugging on her arm gently, she climbed into the tub without comment, gingerly finding the space to sit in Ranma's lap.
Now that he had a chance to examine her up close, he noticed she was fairly thin and petite. The somewhat sad eyes, the short hair, even the various scars, they just seemed to make her appear cute and vulnerable to him. She wasn't inspiring any passion in him, but she was inspiring some affection and a desire to cuddle her until she cheered up.
Also, as far as he could tell from her body language, she appreciated their closeness. She didn't display any happiness or contentment, but she moved quickly to accommodate his hands and slip into any position in which he wanted to hold her.
At the moment however, he wanted to satisfy his curiosity about her body. Reaching up gently, he removed her final piece of clothing, the leather eye patch that covered her forehead and one cheek. In doing so he felt her pull back slightly, the strongest reaction he had gotten from her so far. He didn't think it was because of pain as she instead seemed more intent on keeping him from viewing the half of her face under the eye patch.
Turning her chin back towards him, he finally got a good look. The entire region under the leather straps was mottled with various discolored scars. He wasn't an expert on it, but it seemed more like one of those chemical burns than anything else. In addition to the disfigured flesh, her eye was intact, but her pupil and iris was replaced with a blank pearl colored patch.
Smiling faintly, he began washing away the disinfectant and dead skin clinging to her there, intent on getting rid of the medical smell. The injury was obviously healed, but it looked as if she hadn't been washing it out very frequently. "You should take better care of yourself. This could a gotten infected or something."
Pausing momentarily, he considered her. "It's not too bad though, you're still pretty cute."
Staring at him with her good eye, she seemed to display surprise in the way she froze up, as if she wanted to say something. Eventually she found those words as she recalled what others had said about her. "I am physically disfigured, a defective model. My appearance is to be hidden so as to not disturb others."
Idly tracing a faint pink scar around her shoulders before moving to a small coin shaped scar, he idly spoke up again. "I dunno, I kinda like you. I'd kinda like to see you happy, but I'm not gonna force ya. I mean you're not like normal girls, but if you were, I probably wouldn't be so comfortable with ya. ...and you are cute. Other people might not like it, but I think it gives you .. uh...what's the word...oh yeah, 'character'."
Staring blankly at him, she continued to move into his embrace so his hand and gaze could wander over her. "You are...pleased with me?"
Shifting around in the tub to get a little more room to move Rei in, Ranma smiled at her as she moved to be facing him, leaning back against the far wall of the tub. "Well yeah, I like holding you. I feel comfortable being around you, and I think you like being held too, cause I can feel ya relaxing."
Blushing as her spread legs lifted out of the tub with her hips resting on his stomach, Ranma was reminded that he'd been trying to ignore certain touchy areas. "Ah, is there anywhere you wouldn't want me ta touch you?"
His albino slave didn't even pause to consider her answer. "No."
Blinking, Ranma tried a slightly different tact. "Okay, is there anywhere you like being touched?"
Staring blankly, Rei had to consider that request. His touch on her neck had created a tingle. The touch on her face had been comforting. Her shoulders had felt warm, while her sides had almost made her squirm. Every one of his touches created a sensation, and none of them had been unpleasant. Each was new and interesting, and she was quite content to allow him to continue. "I like your touch..."
Up in the monitoring room, the Ayanami line researchers watching over her set-up with the boy stared.
"Tell me I'm not going insane."
"Is it the part where Rei admitted liking something, or the part where she blushed?"
"Uh yeah, so you saw it too huh?"
"Right."
"Some I'm not insane?"
"Eh, probably not."
"You don't think the sextoy maid package actually affected her do you?"
"No, the reaction is wrong. If it had taken effect, she'd be the one doing the touching. That package wishes to please her Master, not to be pleased by him. Also the reaction seems to be tied to her scarring and his assertion that's she's cute instead of physically deformed."
"You're saying she actually likes him? Are you insane? That's like saying the boy can seduce a car engine!"
"Now now gentlemen, even an artificial girl likes to be appreciated. She is cute in a way, though I doubt many could get past the obvious to see that."
"Oh! You must be with the institute here. Did you find something interesting?"
"In a way. It seems he's the type to be good with damaged or otherwise problematic girls, like those that don't respond well to our imprinting techniques and as such have severe difficulties adjusting to their period of slavery."
"True, though that may be a bit of an understatement. There are early AIs that have more emotional and social capacity than that girl."
"True, that's why I'm considering setting him up with some more girls. We've had one under government care for a while now. A former magic girl, she's been rather depressed and withdrawn. Apparently some magic girls killed her father and there were several other events. She's largely immune to the imprinting process, so without any control we've been worrying that she might become too depressed and become a threat to the public."
"Ah, that would be a problem. Of course the problem we have is that of the father. He's not trustworthy."
"No worries, I've already made arrangements in that regard. We'll be giving the boy a mature older female slave to act as his legal guardian. We were careful to choose a young pretty one so as to not replace the boys mother and also make her attractive to the boy."
"Ah, an excellent idea! What's this woman like?"
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(Posted Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:12)
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